No sweet sambar, thicker dosas, and ghee-loaded surprises—this Bengaluru favourite is shaking up Mumbai’s Udipi comfort zone with bold, divisive flavours

We Mumbaites are used to a certain taste of South Indian food thanks to the Udipi restaurants in the city for last so many decades. And The Rameshwaram Café is nothing like that.

Yash Parekh, the man who brings the Bangalore franchise to Mumbai, points out that this difference is basically because Rameshwaram is Bangalore cuisine not the Tamil Nadu or Udipi one that Mumbaites are used to. “Our dosas are not thin and sambar not sweet. Idlis not round and small… quite a few things will seem different than the ones Mumbai is used to,” Yash says. “But that’s The Rameshwaram Cafe for you.”

Vada Sambar |

Sambar not sweet is welcomed by most South Indian Mumbaites, but sweetish Podi is rejected by most.

While we chat, they serve rasam, their welcome drink. It’s tasty. But I guess I am used to a little spicier, tangier and slightly watery rasam which Tamilians or Karwar/Hubli guys make. My advice to the cafe will be to serve slightly watery rasam.